The Rural Voice, 1992-06, Page 35application, Boland said. If not, he'll
oppose it.
For the beleaguered crew of The
Family Farmer, the support is a
welcome shot of confidence and
appreciation for the work they've
been trying to do in the last few
years. "We were caught in a trap,"
Stewart says of the cancellation of the
show he produces. Unlike CKVR
where the station said there wasn't
advertising or audience enough to
support the show, audience and
money were not the problem for The
Family Farmer which drew about
30,000 viewers a week in its Saturday
evening and Sunday afternoon slots
and had support of national
advertising for farm products. It was
the station as a whole that was losing
money, not the show. "We were the
fly on the elephant and when it rolled
over we got squashed," Stewart says.
But buoyed by the support of
people like Boland, The Family
Farmer crew is full of ideas on how
the show could be saved. After a
recent taping, Stewart, Gaunt and
Sutherland sat on The Family Farmer
set in the darkened studio and talked
about the possibilities. They see the
possibility they could put a show
together themselves and broadcast it,
either just through the CKNX feed
from London, or to both stations.
Jim Sutherland, who has been
cameraman for the program since its
inception and who is one of 46
employees scheduled to lose his job,
talks about how the show could be
put together totally in the field,
without use of a studio for anything
but editing of the tape. Already the
CKNX show is unique among the
other farm shows because much of its
content is shot on farms, in
processing plants, in meeting halls or
family kitchens rather than in the
studio. Sitting through a taping of the
show is mostlywatching Gaunt and
Stewart joke with each other while
the tape of a pre-recorded item plays,
getting serious only when it's time to
announce the next feature.
If a show could be put together
and have a successful first season,
Murray Gaunt says, there's the
possibility of syndicating it to other
stations with a farm audience. In the
future, even more exciting
possibilities exist for fame television.
"I think eventually the whole
(television) system is going to
change," he says. With the coming
of cable television and satellite -
transmitted television people may
have 200 programs available at any
one time. He predicts that while
farmers will still have to fight for
basic farm coverage on regular
Gary Ballagh:
Show lost "when
elephant rolled over".
television channels, the newer
technology may mean there is a
satellite channel devoted solely to
farm coverage. Different parts of the
country will provide coverage at
different parts of the schedule, he
says. But for that to work, he says,
the basic structure of farm
programming production has to be
maintained and shows like his must
be kept going There's a team is in
place to provide the programming.
"We have to have something that
pertains to the farmer, not the
consumer," Jim Sutherland says. Too
much urban -based programing sees
farming only through the eyes of how
it affects consumers. "What we need
is a show for farmers, telling them
what's happening at GATT.
Everything is changing so fast they
need to know now."
Gaunt says there's a definite role
for television in farm reporting, just
as there is for farm newspapers and
magazines. The print media can
provide in-depth coverage, he says,
but radio and television can get the
news out fast. The farm community
needs both. "With one wing cut off,
it's hard for a bird to fly. Farmers
will find they really miss turning on
the TV and getting the top stories of
the day. If that is cut off, I think it's
very detrimental to the farm
community."
As well as informing farmers
about what farmers are doing,
television can reach into the homes of
consumers too, Gaunt says. "It's
becoming more and more critical that
farmers and farm organizations get
their message across to the urban
audience."
The Family Farmer has been
getting the message across since the
fall of 1988 when Gaunt and his
assistant Andy Williams put the show
together. Gaunt had formulated the
package of a proposed farm show
after he had retired as the MPP for
Huron -Bruce in 1981. He and a
friend had taken a proposal for a farm
show to Global Television. The
show would have co -hosts and
include a lot of segments shot in the
field. An arrangement had been
made to tape part of the show at
CKNX, where Gaunt had been farm
editor before entering politics. The
show was to have started in the fall of
1982 but financial problems at the
station caused cutbacks and the idea
was dropped.
Gaunt was visiting Ross Hamilton,
then President of CKNX, when
Hamilton told him the station's farm
editor was leaving and offered him
the job. He took the job on Nov. 1,
1982 and operated as a one-man farm
department until 1985 when he took a
six-month leave of absence to take
part in a provincial commission
looking into beef marketing. When
he returned he insisted he needed
more help and Andy Williams was
hired to help out.
When CKNX and CFPL were
breaking their affiliation with CBC
television, management was looking
for local programming to impress the
CRTC that the change would actually
improve service to local viewers.
Gaunt dusted off his old proposal and
sold the idea to management. His
idea was for a crisply -paced
magazine -style show with segments
on farm management and profiles of
farm leaders.
Once he had sold the idea of the
show, he had to sell the idea of
JUNE 1992 31